Portable hoists are well known for lifting heavy items and normally comprise of some form of wheeled platform onto which is fabricated a set of movable forks or beam that have the ability to move a load vertically up or down by means of electrically or mechanically driven gearing.
Such hoists may be used within the Air Conditioning Industry to enable the outdoor unit of a “split system” herein known as the load to be raised (i.e. an air conditioning system comprising an indoor unit and an outdoor unit linked via pipe work and cabling) to be mounted onto suitable wall mounted brackets above head height. The brackets usually fabricated from mild steel channel with return lip (unistrut being just one example) consist of 2 off uprights secured to the wall by use of expandable fixings and 2 off horizontally extending arms secured to the uprights using channel nuts.
Portable hoists however, can be awkward to handle particularly on soft or uneven ground, or in places where access is difficult. They need firm level ground to operate from. Often the load is unsecured as the hoist was not designed specifically for any one particular task. In addition they are relatively expensive to purchase or alternatively involve the inconvenience and cost of having to be hired.